The nations of Northern Yemen and Marxist Southern Yemen unite to become the Republic of Yemen with Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former a conservative military leader, as President.
Saleh had served as President of North Yemen for 12 years until then.

Ali Salim al-Beidh, a Soviet-trained southern army commander, was chosen as Vice President. Mr. Bidh, had ruled Southern Yemen when it was a Marxist state. A unification of the two countries' political and economic systems was to take place over 30 months. In that time, a unified parliament was formed and a unity constitution was agreed upon. Tensions between North and South continued with sporadic fighting.

Vice President Ali Salim Al-Beidh quits Saleh’s government and returns to Aden in southern Yemen and said he would not return to the government until his grievances were addressed. These included northern violence against his Yemeni Socialist Party, as well as the economic marginalization of the south. Negotiations to end the political deadlock dragged on into 1994. The government of Prime Minister Haydar Abu Bakr Al-Attas, the former PDRY Prime Minister, became ineffective due to political infighting.

An accord between northern and southern leaders was signed in Amman but this could not stop the civil war. During these tensions, both the northern and southern armies–which had never integrated–gathered on their respective frontiers

Civil war (The War of Secession of 1994, May to early July) erupts in Yemen and ends in a victory for Saleh within three months.
A major tank battle erupted in Amran, near San'a. Both sides accused the other of starting it.

On 4 May, the southern air force bombed San'a and other areas in the north; the northern air force responded by bombing Aden.

President Saleh declared a 30-day state of emergency, and foreign nationals began evacuating the country.

Prime Minister Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas was dismissed on May 10 after appealing for outside forces to help end the war.

Southern leaders seceded and declared the Democratic Republic of Yemen (DRY) on 21 May 1994. No international government recognized the DRY.

In mid-May, northern forces began a push toward Aden. The key city of Ataq, which allowed access to the country's oil fields, was seized on May 24.

The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 924 calling for an end to the fighting and a cease-fire. A cease-fire was called on 6 June, but lasted only six hours; concurrent talks to end the fighting in Cairo collapsed as well.

The north entered Aden on 4 July. Supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad greatly assisted military operations against the secessionists and Aden was captured on 7 July 1994. Most resistance quickly collapsed and top southern military and political leaders fled into exile.

Almost all of the actual fighting in the 1994 civil war occurred in the southern part of the country, despite air and missile attacks against cities and major installations in the north. Southerners sought support from neighbouring states and may have received military assistance from Saudi Arabia and Oman, which felt threatened by a united Yemen. The United States repeatedly called for a cease-fire and a return to the negotiating table. Various attempts, including by a UN special envoy and Russia, were unsuccessful to effect a cease-fire.

President Saleh now had control over all of Yemen. A general amnesty was declared, except for 16 southern figures accused of misappropriation of official funds.

YSP (Yemen Socialist Party) leaders within Yemen reorganized following the civil war and elected a new politburo in July 1994. However, much of its influence had been destroyed in the war.

In the second parliamentary election in Yemen the GPC won a majority of the seats, Iṣlāḥ finished second, and the YSP (Yemen Socialist Party) virtually committed political suicide by boycotting the elections.
Given its sizable majority, the GPC chose to rule alone, thereby making Iṣlāḥ the major opposition party in parliament.
In late 1994 the plural executive had been abolished and President Ṣāliḥ reelected to a five-year term by parliament.

September 1999 President Ṣāliḥ was again returned to office, this time in the country’s first direct presidential elections and for a term lengthened to seven years. He had run virtually unopposed, as the YSP candidate was unable to secure the minimum number of votes necessary in the GPC-dominated parliament to stand in the election.

The Bahá’is were also persecuted on account of their faith prior to the armed conflict under the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Four Bahá'ís were arrested in Sana'a on the accusation of proselytizing. The three Bahá’is of Iranian origin who were arrested are Mr. Zia'u'llah Pourahmari, Mr. Keyvan Qadari, and Mr. Mr. Behrooz Rohani . A fourth Bahá’i, Mr. Sayfi Ibrahim Sayfi, was also arrested and faces the possibility of deportation to Iraq. [BWNS651]

Hundreds killed in crackdown on mass protests that called for fall of President Saleh and an end to corruption and repression and accountability for human rights violations.
The longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to resign and sign power-transfer deal to hand over power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The new president Hadi struggled to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by al-Qaeda, a separatist movement in the south, the continuing loyalty of many military officers to Mr Saleh, as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity.

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi elected as president initiating a two-year transitional period. However, government forces continue to commit human rights violations, including unlawful killings and enforced disappearances, against supporters of secession in south and a conflict with the Huthi armed group in north is renewed.

Mr. Hamed Kamal Muhammad bin Haydara (sometimes referred to in the media as "Hamed Merza Kamali Serostani ") is arrested in al-Mukalla, capital of Hadramout province in eastern Yemen. It is suggested that he was arrested on the orders of Mr. Khaled al-Mawari, the Chief Prosecutor who was involved in the unwarranted arrest and detention of another member of the Yemeni Baha'i community.
The family of Hamed bin Haydara had lived in Socotra since 1945, when his father arrived on the Yemeni island from Iran as a doctor under British colonial rule and was granted Yemeni citizenship.
The National security Office raided his home and seized laptops and documents. Reports indicated that he has been tortured (beaten and electrocuted).
According to Baha'i estimates, there are about 2,000 Baha'is in Yemen [BIC website, Reuters]

The Houthi movement, which championed Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority and had fought a series of rebellions against Mr Saleh during his tenure as president in the previous decade, took advantage of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's weakness by taking control of their northern heartland of Saada province and neighbouring areas overthrowing the internationally-recognised government.
By February 2015 the group had dissolved parliament and announced plans for a transitional government.

Hamed bin Haydara had been held at an undisclosed location since his arrest by National Security Forces on the 3rd of December, 2013. During this time he was held in prolonged solitary confinement, severely tortured and electrocuted, and forced to sign documents while blindfolded. In September of 2014 NGOs discovered where he was being detained so the National Security was forced to relocate him to the Criminal Investigation Detention Centre in the Central Prison in Sana'a. [Defending Bahá'í Rights> facebook page]

The first trial hearing of Hamed bin Haydara was held. Legal and human rights NGOs witnessed tampering and interference on the part of the prosecution. The prosecutor, Rajeh Zayed, threatened to detain and execute Bahá'ís. More were arrested. [Defending Bahá'í Rights facebook page]

Clashes escalated between pro and anti-Huthis allied with security forces loyal to Mr Saleh - who is thought to have backed his erstwhile enemies in a bid to regain power. Southerners took to arms and formed resistance to further advance their cause for independence by fighting in order to defend their territory from northern control and a coup of the legitimate government. President Hadi was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia in March. He appealed to Gulf and Arab states to intervene militarily.
A Saudi Arabian-led military coalition of Arab states backed by the United States launched air strikes against the Huthi armed group positions in Sana’a and Sa’da with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in support of Hadi's government.
The Islamic State carried out its first major attacks in Yemen, two suicide bombings targeting Shia mosques in Sana'n in which 137 people were killed. Houthi rebels started to advance towards southern Yemen at which point President Hadi fled to Aden. The Saudi-led coalition of Gulf Arab states launched air strikes against Houthi targets and imposed a naval blockade on Aden.
Over the next six months the conflict spread across Yemen.
In the southern part of the country, the United Arab Emirates, which was part of the Saudi-led coalition, set up its own security forces, running virtually a state-within-a-state and fuelling the south's independence movement.
The Houthis were dislodged from most of the south, but remained in control of Sana'a and much of the north.

The conflict continues to rage throughout the year. UN-sponsored peace talks begin in Kuwait in April but breakdown in early August. On 8 October, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition killed more than 100 people attending a funeral gathering in Sana’a and injured more than 500 others – one of the largest death tolls in any single incident since the start of the coalition’s bombing campaign.

Mr. Hamed Bin Haydara, who has been imprisoned without trial since December 2013, was again brought to court for a hearing but the trial was again postponed, this time to 1 August 2017. Reports indicate that he has been sent to solitary confinement in the National Security Prison on the orders of Mr. Rajeh Zayed, the prosecutor who has caused the delays which have kept him in jail for more than three years and who has been mainly responsible for the arrest and persecution of Baha’is in Yemen. Mr. Rajeh Zayed also recently said he plans to delay Mr. Hamed Bin Haydara’s court hearings and treatment until he “dies in jail.” He is suffering from serious health conditions that require proper medical attention. He stands accused of ‘compromising the independence of the Republic of Yemen’, including spreading the Bahá’í faith in the Republic of Yemen as well as "apostasy" (He has been a Bahá'í from birth.) and “insulting Islam” . [BIC 30 Apr 2017]
[BWNS1285]

Armed, officers masked in balaclavas from Yemen’s National Security Bureau (NSB) intelligence agency, which works hand in hand with the armed Houthi authorities, (also knowns as Ansar Allah) stormed a Bahá’í youth educational workshop in Sana’a. The event was part of a nine day, cross country moral and educational program for Bahá’í youth organized by the Baha’i-run Nida Foundation for Development. Sixty-five people were arrested including 14 women and six people under 18 without an arrest warrant. Half were Baha'is and, currently, it is believed some fourteen remain in prison, including young mothers. Further arrests were carried out later and within a week all but 10 of those who had been incarcerated had been released.
Among those detained are Nadim Tawfiq Al-Sakkaf, (British Council’s country manager in Yemen), his brother Nader Tawfiq Al-Sakkaf and Kaiwan Mohamed Ali Qadri.
[UN Human Rights 4 Oct 2016, BWNS1118, publicaffairs.bahai.us, UN Human Rights, Defending Bahá'í Rights facebook page]

Nadim al-Sakkaf and his brother Nader, who were detained from August 10th, are unexpectedly released from prison in Sana'a. Their release, it is believed, was in no small part due to the relentless advocacy of their wives Ruhiyeh al-Sakkaf and Nafheh al-Sakkaf. Their friend Kaiwan Mohamed Ali Qadri, who was arrested in the same raid, remains in custody. [Religion News Service 20161129]

Houthi-Saleh political security officers arrested Walid Ayyash, Mahmood Humaid, and Badi'u'llah Sanai, all members of the Baha’i community, at a checkpoint near the city border of Hudiedah. Sanai was released one week later, but was re-arrested in May. All three remain detained, their whereabouts unknown. [UN News Centre 22 May 2017]

In total over 25 Baha’is, including many prominent members of the Baha’i community who assist with organization of community affairs at the national level were arrested around the time. In October it was reported that eight Baha’is were still detained but the place of detention was not known. [BWNS1215]

Amnesty International sent a Joint Public Statement to the Huthi-Saleh authorities in Yemen calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Hamid Haydara. The document can be downloaded from the Amnesty International site.

Hundreds of Yemenis gathered in front of the Criminal Prosecution building in the capital city of Sana'a. They were denouncing the arrest of Yemeni citizens of the Baha’i faith and calling for their release. The demonstrations were not led by the usual human rights crew but by tribal leaders of some of the most influential tribes in the country, prominently that of the Bani Mattar.

What brought the tribes out was the arrest of Sheikh Walid Saleh Ayyash, who has the distinction of being both a prominent tribal figure and one of the 2,000 or so Yemenis who practice the Baha’i faith. It was Ayyash’s faith that led to his arrest on April 19, as he was driving from the city of Ibb to the port of Hudaydah. Along with another Baha’i who was in the car, Ayyash was arrested by Houthi forces and transferred to the Hudaydah prison. A statement by the tribal leaders calls Ayash “a distinguished personality among the Arab tribes … well-known for his integrity and wisdom, for his love, loyalty and devotion to his country, for his tolerance and respect for the government and the law.” The leaders had previously met with Khalid Al-Mawari, the Houthi government’s Chief of Special Criminal Prosecution. He had promised them that Ayyash would be transferred to Sanaa. When that failed to happen, they organized the demonstration. [TRACKPERSIA 25 Aug 2017]

Arrests of Baha’is in Yemen has drawn international censure which led to a United Nations resolution, Titled “Human Rights, Technical Assistance and Capacity-building in Yemen”. It was introduced by Egypt on behalf of the Arab Group and supported by the entire UN Human Rights Council—calling for the immediate release of all Baha’i detainees. The Council is the principal human rights body at the UN and is composed of 47 members who are elected by the General Assembly based on equitable geographic distribution.

At the time of the resolution there were seven Baha’is in prison in Yemen, most of whom are held in undisclosed locations and one of which has been detained for nearly four years due to repeatedly postponed court-hearings. Arrest warrants had been issued for over a dozen others, while a number of families had been forced to leave their homes. Developments in Yemen indicated that the authorities’ prosecution of individuals had broadened in scope to be against the Baha’i community in general and that efforts were being made to turn public opinion against all of the Baha’is under the premise that they are secretly plotting to stir unrest in Yemen.

The resolution establishes a Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts tasked with monitoring and reporting on the situation on human rights in Yemen. It is also mandated to carry out a comprehensive examination of all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights in the country.
[BIC News 3 October 2017, UN Human Rights Council – 36th Session, Agenda Item 10]

Yemeni security forces raided a Baha’i gathering in Sana’a opening fire on the small group of people assembled to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Baha’u’llah. The attack occurred in the family home of prominent tribal leader Walid Ayyash, who had been abducted in April and whose whereabouts were unknown. The attackers were reportedly in four cars and an armored vehicle which they used to break down the front door of the house. They arrested Mr. Ayyash’s brother, Akram Ayyash.
This event proved unequivocally the extent of Iran’s role in the persecution of the Baha’is in Yemen, especially in Sana’a, which is under the control of Iranian-backed militias. Similar attacks occurred in Iran during the period of celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'úlláh.
[BWNS1215]

Ali Abdullah Saleh, the ousted strongman who once governed Yemen and then conspired with Iranian-backed rebels to claw his way back to power, was killed after a bomb blew up his family’s compound in the capital, Sana'a. After fighting along side the Iran-backed Houthis for two years it appears that he had switched sides to join the Saudi-led coalition. [New York Times headline Monday, December 4, 2017 10:10 AM EST]

The Specialized Criminal Court of the Houthi militia in Yemen have sentenced 52 year-old detainee Hammed bin Haidara to death on the backdrop of his Bahá'í beliefs, allegedly for collaborating with Israel and forging official documents. His execution was to be a public event. He had been tortured and ill-treated in custody since being incarcerated in December of 2013. The judgment issued by the Houthi-controlled Criminal Court in Sana'a also confiscated the funds of Hammed bin Haidara and shut all Bahá'í centres in the country. The persecution of Bahá'ís in the area controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia reflected the pattern of persecution in Iran.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) estimated that the number of Bahá'ís in Yemen was about 2,000 people in several Yemeni provinces. [Al Arabiya English 3 January, 2018, BIC 5 January, 2018, Amnesty International 28 April, 2017, Defending Bahá'í Rights facebook page]

"The Yemini Initiative for Defending Bahá'í Rights", a activist group launched in April of 2017, has gained tens of thousands of followers. Prominent media groups in the Arab world have publicized the case. In addition to Mr bin Haidara there were six other Bahá'ís in prison in Sana'a. [BWNS1232]

Sayyid Abdul-Malik Badreddin Al-Houthi, the Secretary-General of Yemen’s Shia political party Ansar Allah, accused Baha’is of seeking to create disunity among Muslims. In a televised speech broadcast to a wide audience within and outside of Yemen, he vehemently vilified and denounced the Baha’i Faith, further intensifying the ongoing persecution of the Baha’is in that country. It was reported that the Houthis have also launched a social media campaign against Baha’is. "The Yemeni Initiative for Defending Baha’i Rights", a human rights organization, said in a Facebook post that Al-Houthi’s incitement coincided with incitements against Ahmadis, Christians, intellectuals, scientists, and activists, as well as “a number of Islamic doctrines.” [Conatus News 28 March, 2018]

The launch of a fierce campaign of hatred against members of the Bahá'í Faith, as well as other against peaceful religious minorities was proclaimed by Houthi activist Ahmad Ayed Ahmed in a public Tweet. The campaign coincided with the threats made by the leader of Ansaruallah, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, against the Baha’is, Ahmadis, Christians and a number of Islamic sects during his Friday speech on the occasion of Rajab Friday. This marks a clear call for a sectarian war against minorities and specifically the Bahá'í’s and parallels the already ongoing systematic attack against Bahá'ís including arbitrary arrests, persecution, and torture. This marks a new stage in Houthi persecution, until now they had exercised a degree of “political dissimulation” to conceal their direct involvement, however, since al-Houthi’s public speech, Houthis are now openly spearheading as well as escalating the systematic persecution of Baha’is.
[Iran Press Watch 1 April, 2018]

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi authorities held a court hearing that targeted some 20 or 24 Baha’is, most in absentia, with a string of baseless charges which include espionage and apostasy. The charges were primarily made against individuals who held administrative roles in the Baha’i community but extend to other Yemeni Baha’is including a teenage girl. In a subsequent hearing on September 29, the judge the prosecutor to publish the names of the accused in a newspaper and ordered their properties frozen. The judge in the case was Abdu Ismail Hassan Rajeh, the same judge who presided over Mr. Haydara's in January of 2018.

In the second court hearing presided over by judge Abdu Ismail Hassan Rajeh three additional Bahá'ís were sentenced to death. Five of the indicted Bahá'ís were in attendance at the court where the judge requested the prosecutor to publish the names of 19 others indicted in a newspaper, further endangering the lives of the Yemeni Bahá'í community. The judge also ordered that all of the properties belonging to the Bahá'ís indicted be frozen until the court verdict is issued. He furthermore objected to a request by the lawyer for the five to be released on bail and deferred any such decision to the next hearing to be held in a month and ten days.

The actions undertaken by the Houthis were condemned in two recent United Nations resolutions, one of which called for the immediate release of all Bahá'ís detained in Yemen due to their religious beliefs and to cease any harassment they are subjected to.
[Iran Press Watch 4 October, 2018]

Abdullah Al Olofi, member of the Bahá'í community in Yemen, was on his way to the market in Sana’a when suddenly he was surrounded by armed soldiers in a pick-up truck, blindfolded and taken away. [Counterpunch 9 November, 2018]

Imprisoned Bahá'í Hamed bin Haydara, 55, who had been sentenced to death, appeared in court in Sanaa for an unexpected hearing. Mr Haydara had been in Houthi detention in central Sanaa since December 2013. UN human rights representatives have called for the rebels to overturn his death sentence.
In addition to Mr Haydara, five other Baha’is were held by the rebels in Sanaa, two of whom had been hidden since last April, They were
Waleed Ayyash, 51, and Wael Al Al Ariki, 41, a human-rights activist, Sheikh Akram Ayyas, 37, had been in Houthi detention since October 2017, Badea Senai, 66, who was an urban planning adviser for the government, had been in prison since May 2017 and Qwan Mohammad Qadri, 45, who was arrested by the Houthis in August 2016. He is of Iranian descent and was an employee of the British Council in Yemen.
Under a prisoner exchange deal agreed at UN-led peace talks in Sweden in December, the government has repeatedly requested the release of all Bahá'í detainees held by the Houthi rebels. Each side submitted 8,000 names of Yemeni people they believe to be detained, dead or missing for the other side to locate and release as a confidence-building measure but the Iran-backed rebels have not responded to the government's request on the Bahá'í detainees.
[The National 13JAN2019]

Hamed Bin Hayadara, who was facing a death sentence, appeared in a Sana’a court where he was facing charges of "foreign espionage" and "abandonment of religion". The judge adjourned the session until 12 March. He was among the six Bahá'ís detained in Sana'a. [SBSWorldNews]